Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Wed Nov 14 13:26:15 2007

Jack. Just so that I can understand, what is your definition of bat drag? And do you find the drag is just on that avg hitters outside pitch effort or the swing in its entirety?

Per the avg hitter and based upon your comment, I would conclude that the drag has a lot to do with the hitters last ditch effort to swing at a pitch that is to far away because he hax already committed to pulling the ball and or committed to hit a fastball middle in. The after result is a likely feeble atempt to make plate coverage because his legs (hip turn) have already committed early.

I think from your study, you will also discover why some hitter tap out weakly to the pitch on the pitch outside. (They are not waiting, staying back long enough.)

Hi THG

“Bat Drag” means the angular acceleration of the bat-head does not keep pace with advancement of the hand-path. With efficient mechanics, the angular acceleration of the bat-head stays in sync with the hand-path so that it attains it maximum velocity at the optimum contact point. With inefficient mechanics, the bat-head drags behind the hands (and knob) well into the swing and does not reach its maximum velocity until after passing through at the optimum contact point.

Most average batter’s mechanics are inefficient and exhibit bat drag on all pitch locations. This is why they have little power to the opposite field and most of their better-hit balls are pulled foul. Below is a post I wrote that goes into more detail on this topic.

Re: pull hitter

Jack Mankin